A Night Mooring on the Chien-te River

Lawrence Andrew Patterson

This color blockprint by Lawrence Patterson illustrates the poem “Night Mooring on the Chien-Te River” by the Chinese poet Meng Hao-jan (689 - 740) and translated by Witter Bynner in 1929. The publisher was Lawton Kennedy. The Bynner translation reads:

"While my little boat moves on its mooring of mist / And daylight wanes, old memories begin…. / How wide the world was, how close the trees to heaven / And how clear in the water the nearness of the moon."

The print is editioned “9” though the edition is unknown. Patterson's work is rare.

See our "biography link above for more information about Patterson.